Permits are in place to move 2.8 billion gallons of crude oil and more than 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol through the Port of Albany, reports Eric Anderson in this morning’s Times Union. Eric reports that the state Department of Environmental Conservation quietly approved a Houston oil company’s application to more than double the amount […]
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From my Sunday column: Like in Lac-Megantic, trains here are carrying more and more crude oil and ethanol. Much of that hazardous material is being moved in a tanker model with a deadly design flaw that causes the cars to tear in an accident. Those flawed tankers, known as the DOT-111, “can almost always be expected […]
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Update: Amtrak has informed us that the escalator is running again. The on-again/off-again escalator at the Amtrak station in Rensselaer is off, again. I wrote a column or two about the station’s escalators this spring, after frustrated frequent riders told me the links to the train platforms had been down for months. Why, they wanted […]
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Guardrails are in place to protect drivers, not pedestrians. That, I think, is a key takeaway from today’s Advocate column about changes being made to the Congress Street Bridge in Troy. The changes, part of an ongoing reconstruction of the bridge between Watervliet and downtown Troy, move guardrails to the opposite side of the sidewalk, […]
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From Sunday’s column: I’ve heard horror stories about airport-bound passengers who were hit with outrageously steep charges. Doug Myers, a spokesman for the airport, cites two recent examples that generated complaints: Three students who faced a $130 fare for a ride from the Rensselaer train station, and three lawyers who were charged $72 for the trip […]
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From today’s column, which is about how the escalators at the Amtrak station in Rensselaer have been broken for at least six weeks: The escalators in question are at the Rensselaer train station, where they carry passengers to and from the platforms. And, yes, they’re broken, forcing many customers to haul luggage up or down […]
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Gerald Flint is the Thruway’s king of overtime. Flint, a toll collector at the Albany Northway plaza, received $49,000 in overtime pay last year, pushing his overall salary to just over $100,000. Nobody at the New York State Thruway Authority has been paid more overtime in recent years than Flint, who lives in Schodack. But I’ve spent […]
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Update: Samara Ceccucci tells me that the Troy City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to pay her claim. On Thursday night, the Troy City Council can reverse an injustice. Its members can finally do right by David and Samara Ceccucci. I first wrote about the Ceccuccis in July — three months after a Prius driven […]
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Sunday’s column detailed the state-induced ordeal experienced by homeowners in Stuyvesant. At its essence, this is a story about the callousness, and arrogance, of the state’s Department of Transportation. One quick note: John Hutchinson, the homeowner in the photo at right, wrote me to say that he disputes the DOT’s claim of an accident at […]
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Great story in Friday morning’s TU from Rick Karlin that, above all, makes this point: E-ZPass can increase the amount it takes from your bank account without notification. From Rick’s story: As an independent trucker who travels over a 10-state area, Ed Quackenbush (photo above) sees a lot from the cab of his big rig. […]
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